The Ashes
by beauti x ful
Summary: 'I looked into my about-to-be husbands eyes as I uttered "I do" and whatever other lies the priest asked me to say. Then before I knew it Edward Culleno's lips were on mine with his ring was on my finger, and in a sudden I was married to one of the most dangerous men in the US of A.' / AH / OOC
1. Surrender

Hi

This is a story which I've had on my mind for a long time and I had to write it out so enjoy, it will be quite long- hopefully 20-30 chapters but there will not be regular updates as I'm a student who should be revising now but oh well.

As a rough into to the story Bella and Edward have been forced into an arranged marriage by their parents so they can combine their mafia businesses. Edward is not the nicest of guys and Bella wants a normal life.

Enjoy and make sure you follow and favorite.

**Disclaimer=** I don't own the characters, just the plot.

Bella Culleno- 18

Edward Culleno- 27

Emmett Culleno- 30

Rosalie Culleno- 26

Franco & Elenora Culleno (Rosalie's and Emmett's kids)-6 & 4

Alice Whitlock- 25

Jasper Whitlock- 26

Angelo & Lucca Whitlock (Alice's and Jasper's twins)- 4

Esme Culleno- 51

Carlisle Culleno- 54

* * *

**I will go down with this ship **  
**And I won't put my hands up and surrender **

-Dido

Unsurprisingly, my dress was white.

It had a lace bodice, with curls clawing up to my chest and showing my translucent skin underneath under the bust until the skirt. The sleeves were short, a summer wedding I was told, and the bottom sat out just enough to show the dress was expensive but not too much that it was tacky. The dress was low cut enough to show my plentiful cleavage but not too low that I would look like a slut.

Some people might say it was perfect.

"Isabella, what do you think? Is this the one?" My mother asked me, tears in her hazel eyes at her baby in a wedding dress.

"I don't care." I spat, avoiding my gaze in the mirror, scared at what I might see in it. A desperate girl.

"_Bambina_, tiara or veil?" She tried again to interest me but when would she learn? She placed it in her auburn hair as she debated. "I think maybe a tiara with a small one like this or maybe-"

"I do not give a shit _mamma_!" I shouted. This wasn't my wedding.

~oO0Oo~

**1 month later**

Huge, that would be the only word to describe this event. Having stuck my head in secretly I managed to see the whole of the beautiful cathedral full of my Aunts, Uncles, second cousins and every other family member I had under the sun. We had left my small hometown of Forks yesterday and had taken the jet to here.

My parents wouldn't even tell me what state we were in.

I sighed and looked up into the mirror in front of me but I didn't look like myself. I was a fake of the happy person I used to be. The 'bridal suite' was nearly full outside this door. People I hadn't met wanting to coo over me. No thanks.

My mother had just done my hair in large curls and my makeup rather plain bar the blood red lipstick. I had on the necklace my mother wore on this very day which her and my father had added blue sapphires to as a wedding present, how very thoughtful of them.

"Are you ready?" My mother asked me as she put my white heels on my feet for me. "You look amazing _Mia Bella_."

I didn't answer her.

"I know right now you hate me and your _pap__à_ but I promise you, whatever you're expecting will not be that bad." She was tearing up, the liquid gathering in her perfectly shadowed eyes.

"_Mamma_, you practically signed a contract to let me get raped tonight by a man who sells guns, drugs and people but you want me to forgive you?" I shook my head at her arrogance. "You sold your own daughter out to the mafia and for that I hate you."

And with that I left the room.

~oO0Oo~

The music started and everyone stood, turning to try and catch a glimpse of this blushing bride. I held on tentatively to my _pap__à's_ arm as we walked up the aisle which was lined with flowers of the bodacious church.

I didn't fake a smile or happiness as we walked down the aisle, clutching my white and pink peonies, instead I looked at the stain glass window above.

A phoenix, rising from the ashes below was depicted in beautifully coloured glass.

And before I knew it my _pap__à_ was kissing my cheek and placing my hand in another mans.

I looked into my about-to-be husbands eyes as I uttered the "I Do's" and whatever other lies the priest asked me to say. They shone green, not very happy but it was hard to be when you're getting married to a stranger. He had a straight nose and a defined jaw- _mia mamma_ would have called it chiseled.

If I was still in my home town my friends and I would have called him handsome, we might have imagined him kissing us or asking us out on a date

Then before I knew it Edwards lips were on mine and his ring was on my finger.

I am Isabella Culleno, married to a mafia boss.


	2. Bad Luck

Sorry for a bit of a filler chapter but it was needed.

Make sure to comment

* * *

**Some nights I stay up cashing in my bad luck****  
****Some nights I call it a draw**

**-FUN.**

I had grown up as normal as any other girl, shopping and enjoying life with my friends- until I was 15.

With my Italian heritage and my new feminine body I was one of the most popular girls at my very expensive American private school as I was one of the richest, prettiest and nicest.

My absolute best friends though were Angela and Jacob, we were the three amigos who stuck by each other's side no matter what.

It was Jacob who told me first, told me the secret which would change my life.

I was happiness, perfect friends, perfect grades and the most perfect outlook on life.

But apparently his father had told him.

And apparently most of the school knew.

My dad was in the Mafia.

I laughed when he told me one day as we sat on his bed. We had been making out (it was something we did at the time) and I knew something was wrong but I couldn't pin point it. The way he held me, careful of hurting me, conveyed more then I knew possible. He was scared.

Then he told me his dad was away on business so his Aunt was staying with him, but he was scared his dad wouldn't make it home and if he did it would be in a coffin. He was sure of it.

His dad told him that this was his first break his boss had given him, a chance to oversee the trade of expensive goods.

Then he told me his boss was my dad.

And those expensive goods? It was coke which had a street price of seven hundred thousand pounds.

It all changed then as I confronted my father who confirmed all this, he told me that now I knew I had to be careful.

He made me train in basic self-defense, made sure I slept with a gun under my pillow and made sure to stay clear of people who were overly interested in my surname- and the cops.

**~oO0Oo~**

The wedding breakfast was a classic Italian feast served in the garden of the Culleno mansion. Pastas of every variety, thousands of breads and the plentiful alcohol flowing- for everyone apart from me.

I attempted to pour myself some wine but instantly my _mammas'_ hand clamped onto my wrist. "Bella, you are 18."

"Mother, it's my wedding." I snapped back at her.

"You are fucking still 18" My _papa_ snapped, moving the bottle away from me. _"Capisce?"_

_"Capisce"_

I didn't engage in any more conversations; instead I concentrated on the lock on my finger while I tried to figure out the key.

**~oO0Oo~**

"Welcome to the family _bambina_ Swan." Emmett Culleno kissed my cheeks. "How does it feel to be a fucking Culleno?"

"Great." I said sarcastically, not feeling the need to lie to my new brother in law. His cheeky dimples and contagious laugh instantly warmed me to him in a way which had not happened with his younger brother.

"It will get better, trust me." He assured, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear and lightly tapping my cheek twice before walking away.

**~oO0Oo~**

I danced with my husband for the first time. He held me too close to him as we swayed to a song I didn't even know the tune to, never mind the words.

"You look beautiful." He whispered in my ear, the first word he had said to me since being on his territory. "I can't wait for tonight." And then he chuckled to himself darkly.

**~oO0Oo~**

"Bella, how is it going?" Alice Cullen was the sweetest woman. She had short hair which was curled to frame her face perfectly. "The cake looks so much better than it did in the photograph"

Her husband Jasper was also just as lovely, curly hair and a delectable western accent which he had picked up from his family in Texas.

His and Alice marriage hadn't actually been forced. They had met in a whirlwind relationship and they had actually asked their parents and they formed a business relationship out of it.

They also had two twins Angelo and Lucca who were four. The reason I knew more about them then my husband was the fact Alice had wanted to play an important part in her brother's wedding to me.

She had left her home in Chicago multiple times to come to my family home in Forks, Washington.  
By living outside a main city my dad managed to run an illegal business with no ties back to our little town, although crazy my dad was a genius.

"Tiring, but okay" I answered with a sad smile.

"Good! We're just about to put these two to bed then we'll be back down" Jasper told me, placing his hand on the small of his wifes back and carrying Angelo in the other hand.

I chatted with my aunts and uncles who all came from Italy especially to see me get wed. They knew I wasn't happy as they had all been through arranged marriages simply for land, business or some other gain for their parents.

"You're beautiful Bella." My grandmother kissed my cheeks and held me close. "You look exactly like your mother on her wedding day and I want to give you this." She opened a large velvet box which she opened then placed into my hands.

A pair of the most beautiful earrings, diamonds with dangle bits as beautiful as the finest lace. There was a matching necklace and I could just imagine wearing them.

_"Grazi, grazi grazi."_ I smiled for real for the first time today. My _nonna_ was the cutest woman ever.

"Lets get a picture of you two" Renee came out of nowhere, attacking us with a pain in my cheeks was obviously due to the fact I was in more pictures then ever today, fake smiling with various family members in various places.

I was drained.

"_Mamma_ said we should go now." Edward whispered in my ear as he pulled me away from talking.

"Go where?" I asked him, it was only 12 and the party wasn't meant to finish at any time.

"To my room"

**~oO0Oo~**

I had only briefly met Edward before today. Once when we were much younger and once about four months ago in a wedding planning session where neither of us put in much input.

A colour suggestion now and again, a theme or just a no were the only words I had uttered in the same room but I'm getting the feeling Edward was a bit of an ass.

A 27 year old now married to an 18 year old.

I took my veil and tiara out of my hair the minute we left the ballroom. It was a long walk up to the 'honeymoon suite,' also known as Edward's bedroom. It was far from all the other rooms and Edwards long legs meant I had to rush to keep up.

It did allow me to get the rushed tour of the Culleno estate however which was beautifully decorated from ceiling to floor.

He pushed the large door open for me, standing back to let me in- what a gentleman.

I took my shoes off and faced Edward for the first time. We stared at each other, him in his tux with his green eyes bearing into mine.

"Take it off" I flinched at his bluntness.

"What?"

"Take off your dress so we can get this done." He told me before walking into the bathroom. "Take it off or I will call in Sam and Embry to do it for you."

I did as I was told, unzipping the dress and slipping it off of my body in a pile on the floor- I wasn't needing it again anytime soon.

He came out of the bathroom as i sat on the four post bed in the middle of the, sorry- our room waiting for further instructions.

He had taken off his jacket and shirt, now only in his trousers with his gun holster on full view.

A silent threat.

He took in my wedding lingerie with a smirk. The garter was high on my thigh and my bra was one of those slightly longer ones from the wedding underwear department.

Thanks Alice.

The knickers were plain, quite mini but nothing too scandalous.

"You are as beautiful as everyone keeps telling me." He walked over to me and took my hand, pulling me up so I stood opposite him. "I'm going to enjoy this"

Then his lips were on mine, his hands were one my ass and he was everywhere.

I lay as still as I could, letting him have his way with me but wanting no part of it.

My parents did this to me.

I hated how my body responded to gentle caresses, shivering and begging even though I hated every touch he made to me.

"It will hurt you Mia Bella." He whispered in my ear after he had stripped off both of our clothes.

"We don't have to do this tonight, let's wait until we know each other better and-" I tried to beg quietly but then he was in me and I was crying but he was carrying on. And then it was over and I was still crying, this time with blood on the sheets and pains down below.


End file.
